Golf Coaching Staff

Director of Men's and Women's Golf and Senior Associate Athletic Director

Jim Owen

Coach Owen is in his 28th year at Oglethorpe University.  This season marks Owen's sixteenth year coaching the men's golf team and sixth year with the women's program. Owen, a 1981 graduate of Berry College, arrived on campus in the summer of 1981 as a graduate assistant basketball coach and intramural director.  At Berry, Owen was a three year starting guard and was named basketball team MVP his senior season.  He was named Most Outstanding Senior Athlete at Berry College later that spring.  He served as an assistant basketball coach from 1981-1997 before assuming the head coaching responsibilities from 1998-2003.  During his tenure, Oglethorpe joined the NCAA Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and expanded the sports programs offered at Oglethorpe from six to fourteen.

In 1993, Owen took two individual male golfers to the SCAC Conference golf championship in Jackson, Mississippi.  Those two golfers began the program that has developed in the last twelve years into one of the most respected in the nation.  Since 1997, a span of twelve consecutive years, the Stormy Petrel men have been ranked in the top 25 in the nation. They have been ranked in the top 10 for nine consecutive years and inside the top 5 for each of the last seven years.  Owen has coached 32 All-SCAC performers including three in 2008 when Oglethorpe's Scott Pugh, Hap Kaufold, Olafur Loftsson and Colin Chapman were honored at the SCAC Championship in Tunica, Mississippi.

Owen has coached eight men's SCAC Championship teams in the past twelve years including four in a row from 2000-2003. He was named SCAC Coach of the Year in ten of the last twelve seasons. Owen was honored as the South Region Coach of the Year in 2002 and was a finalist for 2002 NCAA National Coach of the Year.

In 2009, Owen guided the Stormy Petrels to the school's first ever NCAA Championship in any sport when the team dramatically rallied to claim the title at the PGA Villages in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

He has coached eight SCAC Player's of the Year including Tolliver Williams (1996, 1998), Robert Fink (2001), Chris Summers (2002), Trent Erb (in 2003 and 2004), Taylor Urbanski ( 2008) and Scott Pugh (2009).

On the regional and national level, Owen had had eleven of his fifteen teams represented at the NCAA National Tournament.  The Stormy Petrels have had eleven Academic All-Americans and sixteen NCAA Division III All-Americans since the 1998 season. In 2003 Joe Green was honored with Oglethorpe's first National Freshman of the Year Award. In 2007, Taylor Urbanski completed a rare feat by being named to both the academic and athletic All-American teams. In 2008, Scott Pugh and Urbanski were named to the prestigious twelve member All-South Region team bringing the total to fourteen All-Region players honored from Oglethorpe in his tenure. Owen has served three terms on the NCAA South Region National Selection Committee.

Oglethorpe, in partnership with the Central Florida Sports Commission, hosted the 2005 Men's NCAA Division III National Tournament at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort near Orlando, Florida. In 2006 and 2007 Oglethorpe was awarded the Women's NCAA Division III National Championships. Oglethorpe will again host the NCAA Women's Championship in the spring of 2010.

In the fall of 2003, Owen retired from his basketball coaching duties and officially began the women's golf program.  The women's team has been an off again on again process since its inception in 1998 with five different coaches in the last six years.  Owen has brought increasing continuity to the women's program and consistency in recruiting. In 2006, the women broke through with a spectacular 2nd place finish at the SCAC Conference Championship. In 2007, the women's team finished third and in 2008 placed fifth.

The Stormy Petrels fielded teams that competed in the SCAC tournament in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 with their best finishes being fifth place in 1998, 1999, and 2001.  In 1999 and again as a senior in 2001, Kristi Wright earned 2nd Team All-SCAC for her play at the Spring Festival. 

In 2004 and again in 2005 the Stormy Petrel women finished fifth in SCAC Conference Championship play. At the Renaissance PineIsle Resort golf course hosted by Oglethorpe University in 2004 on beautiful Lake Lanier Heather March earned second team SCAC honors. In 2005 in Arkansas, freshman Julia Gates and junior Mallory Pusch both earned second team SCAC honors. In 2007, then freshman Katie Dale earned first team All-SCAC honors finishing second overall and became the first women's golfer to earn Academic All-American honors at the NGCA banquet. Dale earned her third Academic All-American in 2009.

In 2008, Oglethorpe said goodbye to two-time All-American and four-time All-SCAC honoree Julia Gates. Julia finished the 2007 NCAA Championship in 18th place and returned in 2008 as a senior and finished in 13th place earning her Oglethorpe's first All-American women's golfer.

Owen was inducted in May of 2001 into the Oglethorpe Athletic Hall of Fame for his twenty years of dedicated service to the University.  Owen lives in Alpharetta, Georgia with his wife Anjie and their children Jayce, 17, and Michaela, 12.

Assistant Coach David Potts (right) pictured with Owen

Assistant Coach Men's Golf

David Potts

David Potts begins his fifth year as the Assistant Coach for the Stormy Petrels. Potts brings with him an extensive playing and teaching background and has passed along his experience to the team in each of his first two seasons. Last summer, Golf Digest magazine named Potts one of Georgia's Top Fifteen teachers in their 2007 state-by-state rankings.

Potts is a Georgia native. He attended Commerce High School where he was a two-time All-State golfer. Potts received a golf scholarship to the University of Georgia and was a four-year letterman for the Bulldogs. He was the team MVP in 1995 with a 73.3 stroke average and was selected to the All-SEC team in 1996. While at UGA Potts earned a degree in Consumer Economics and was selected as the UGA Scholar Athlete for golf in 1996 and also named an All-SEC Scholar Athlete in '96.

After college Potts played the mini-tour golf circuit for four years. Potts had some success with 2 career wins and numerous top ten finishes. He regarded this time as a great learning experience playing against current PGA Tour players such as Chad Campbell and Slocum. After missing out at Q-School in 2000 Potts turned his career path to working in the golf industry instead of competing for a living. Potts worked for Mizuno in their golf division for 2 years and then joined Peachtree Golf Center as a Teaching Professional. He has been employed at Peachtree Golf Center since the fall of 2002 continues to help golfers of all ages and skill levels. Potts still plays a few tournaments a year. In 2005 he finished T6 at the Griffin Classic, T6 in the Georgia PGA North Chapter Championship and was runner up in the Georgia PGA Assistant's Championship at Sugarloaf CC.

Potts' two professional wins were on the TearDrop Tour in 1997 in Winter Haven, FL and again in 1998 in Covington, GA. David played a full Hooters Tour schedule in 1997-1998. In 1999 he moved to the Developmental Players Tour. His best finish on the Developmental Tour was a 2nd place showing at Oak Mountain. He lost in a playoff to PGA tour winner Heath Slocum.

Coach Owen, commenting on the addition of David to the staff, "David brings tremendous experience to our program from the technical side. He understands the golf swing and more importantly his extensive competitive experience at the college level and beyond proves him to be an invaluable addition. I know he enjoys the teaching aspect of his career since he left the tour, but was missing the competition that college tournaments, amateur events and professional tournaments gave him. Working closely with us this year, you could see his competitive side begin to resurface."

After seven years of teaching in Duluth, Georgia, Davisd is now teaching at the Country Club of the South. He serves as their Junior Golf Leader and is an Associate Teaching Instructor at the Alpharetta course. Potts lives in Tucker along with his wife Tara and his 6-year-old son Jake. and 2 year old daughter, Abby. For more information about David visit the Country Club of the South's website.